Subject:
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More Thoughts about Girls and Legos
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.edu
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Date:
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Wed, 16 Aug 2000 18:05:01 GMT
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Viewed:
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6416 times
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Howdy,
...I was just reviewing the debates that ran on gender issues and
science at the Nature website late last year. (
http://helix.nature.com/debates/women/women_frameset.html ) One email
posting that stated that the "cognitive differences between men and
women" is one explaination for the gender gap in the sciences. ( The
argument runs that there are cognitive differences such as math and
spatial abilities between men and women, and these differences may be
important to achievement in science. )
Yes, there are some cognitive differences between men and women...but I
cannot seriously believe that someone would argue that this would
explain why there are significantly fewer women in the fields of science
and technology.
Working in an engineering lab with Lego elements, I have observed that:
1) Female students enjoy working with Lego elements as much as male
students.
2) Female students enjoy exploring mechanical engineering, architecture
and robotics as much as male
students.
3) Female students display as much prociency developing projects in the
Lego lab as male students.
4) It is motivation that is the key. Given motivation, students will
demonstrate persistence to master
the material. In addition to having a great hands-on constructive (
Legos, which provide the opportunity for every
student to experience success ), it was the classroom environment (
making it "girl-friendly"---for example deemphasizing competitive
activities while encouraging group projects, providing support and
positive feedback, and having female role
models ) and the building curriculum ( open ended projects and lots of
free time available to explore different aspects of engineering ) that
made the difference. These elements are the building blocks to
motivating more female students to
explore science and technology.
Any thoughts?
Richard
rwright@pcsedu.com
www.edventures.com
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: More Thoughts about Girls and Legos
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| (...) Well, I'll have to go and semi-agree with the statement. However, I think that what the statement was implying vs. what it said by the letter was a bit different. I think that I would say something along the lines of "male and female minds (...) (24 years ago, 16-Aug-00, to lugnet.edu)
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